Special Free Report

For a limited time, The Motley Fool Australia is giving away an urgent new investment report outlining our 5 favourite stocks for investors over 50. Each company boasts strong growth prospects over the next 3 to 5 years, and most importantly each pays a generous (and fully franked) dividend! So if you’re looking to get your finances on track and you’re in or near retirement – we’ve got you covered!

Here’s why these 4 shares crashed on the market today

Today marked a modest recovery for the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: ^AXJO)(ASX:XJO) index after days of heavy selling. While the ASX200 was up 0.85% to 4,900 points at the time of writing, many investors will likely find that their portfolios are still underwater.

These four companies significantly underperformed the market today, and here’s why:

Today marked a modest recovery for the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: ^AXJO)(ASX:XJO) index after days of heavy selling. While the ASX200 was up 0.85% to 4,900 points at the time of writing, many investors will likely find that their portfolios are still underwater.

These four companies significantly underperformed the market today, and here’s why:

Monadelphous Group Limited(ASX: MND) fell 3.9% to $6.60 on no news as oil and gas prices fell overnight and China reported its slowest quarter of growth since 2009, at 6.8%. Fellow services companies Worleyparsons Limited(ASX: WOR) and Downer EDI Limited(ASX: DOW) also lost 3.4% and 4.7% respectively.

Services companies have remained optimistic about picking up additional work as major resource projects finish construction and move into the maintenance phase, although investors should be cautious that with commodity prices plummeting, producers could defer or reduce this kind of expenditure.

Admedus Ltd(ASX:AHZ) lost 1.6% to $0.61, taking its total loss for the year to 51%, according to data from Nabtrade and including the effects of the recent share consolidation. Investors have been growing impatient with the company’s progress, despite a recent update from the company informing investors of the completion of its HSV-2 vaccine trial (results pending), growing revenues, and strong cash position.

Ultimately, there’s no rushing these kinds of products and shareholders should expect to wait for positive developments for some time yet.

WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED(ASX: WHC) lost 5% to $0.46, possibly also as a result of China’s GDP growth figures, which were released today – China is a major buyer of coal, and its demand affects prices for Whitehaven’s key commodity. Despite the fall, Whitehaven’s most recent quarterly report was positive, indicating it was achieving a ‘cash margin’ (before corporate costs) of $13 per tonne in the first half of 2016.

Interested investors should look to Whitehaven’s upcoming half-year report, to be released on 5 February, for more information.

Select Harvests Limited(ASX:SHV) lost 5.9% to $6.05 as investors appear to be getting nervous about whether the price of almonds (Select Harvest’s key crop) could be due for a correction after spot almond prices fell in recent times. Select management believes the price weakness is due to one-off events and should stabilise soon. In the same announcement, management informed investors last Thursday that they expected to report a higher profit in 2016 compared to the previous year.

The 7.6% unfranked dividend yield is sure to get some interested buyers taking a closer look at the company.

Motley Fool contributor Sean O'Neill owns shares of Admedus Ltd.. Unless otherwise noted, the author does not have a position in any stocks mentioned by the author in the comments below. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT.

Five Cheap and Good Stocks to Buy in 2020…

Our Motley Fool experts have released a fantastic FREE report, detailing 5 dirt cheap shares that you can buy in 2020 and hold for YEARS Simply fill in your email below to scoop up your FREE copy and discover all 5 shares. But you will want to hurry – this free report is available for a brief time only.

By clicking this button, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. We will use your email address only to keep you informed about updates to our website and about other products and services we think might interest you. You can unsubscribe at anytime. Please refer to our Financial Services Guide (FSG) for more information.

Stay Connected with the Fool

This Service provides only general, and not personalised financial advice, and has not taken your personal circumstances into account. The Motley Fool Australia operates under AFSL 400691. For more information please see our Financial Services Guide. Please remember that investments can go up and down. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future returns. The Motley Fool Australia does not guarantee the performance of, or returns on any investment.